Posted on 02/02/2020 10:33:28 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Ottoman Empire was once among the biggest military and economic powers in the world. So what happened?
At its peak in the 1500s, the Ottoman Empire was one of the biggest military and economic powers in the world, controlling an expanse that included not just its base in Asia Minor but also much of southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The empire controlled territory that stretched from the Danube to the Nile, with a powerful military, lucrative commerce, and impressive achievements in fields ranging from architecture to astronomy.
But it didnt last. Though the Ottoman Empire persisted for 600 years, it succumbed to what most historians describe as a long, slow decline, despite efforts to modernize. Finally, after fighting on the side of Germany in World War I and suffering defeat, the empire was dismantled by treaty and came to an end in 1922, when the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI, was deposed and left the capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in a British warship. From Ottoman empires remains arose the modern nation of Turkey.
What caused the once awe-inspiring Ottoman Empire collapse? Historians arent in complete agreement, but below are some factors.
It was too agrarian. While the industrial revolution swept through Europe in the 1700s and 1800s, the Ottoman economy remained dependent upon farming. The empire lacked the factories and mills to keep up with Great Britain, France and even Russia, according to Michael A. Reynolds, an associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. As a result, the empires economic growth was weak, and what agricultural surplus it generated went to pay loans to European creditors. When it came time to fight in World War I, the Ottoman Empire didnt have the industrial might to produce heavy weaponry, munitions and iron and steel needed to build railroads to support the war effort.
It wasnt cohesive enough. At its apex, the Ottoman empire included Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Macedonia, Romania, Syria, parts of Arabia and the north coast of Africa. Even if outside powers hadnt eventually undermined the empire, Reynolds doesnt think that it could have remained intact and evolved into a modern democratic nation. The odds probably would have been against it, because of the empires tremendous diversity in terms of ethnicity, language, economics, and geography, he says. Homogenous societies democratize more easily than heterogenous ones.
The various peoples who were part of the empire grew more and more rebellious, and by the 1870s, the empire had to allow Bulgaria and other countries to become independent, and ceded more and more territory. After losing the losing the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars to a coalition that included some of its former imperial possessions, the empire was forced to give up its remaining European territory.
Ottoman Empire map The Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent in 1683.
Peter Hermes Furian/Getty Images
Its population was under-educated. Despite efforts to improve education in the 1800s, the Ottoman Empire lagged far behind its European competitors in literacy, so by 1914, its estimated that only between 5 and 10 percent of its inhabitants could read. The human resources of the Ottoman empire, like the natural resources, were comparatively undeveloped, Reynolds notes. That meant the empire had a shortage of well-trained military officers, engineers, clerks, doctors and other professions.
Other countries deliberately weakened it. The ambition of European powers also helped to hasten the Ottoman Empires demise, explains Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Centre at St. Antonys College. Russia and Austria both supported rebellious nationalists in the Balkans to further their own influence. And the British and the French were eager to carve away territory controlled by the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and North Africa.
It faced a destructive rivalry with Russia. Neighboring Czarist Russia, whose sprawling realm included Muslims as well, developed into an increasingly bitter rival The Russian empire was the single greatest threat to the Ottoman empire, and it was a truly existential threat, Reynolds says. When the two empires took opposite sides in World War I, though, the Russians ended up collapsing first, in part because of the Ottoman forces prevented Russia from getting supplies from Europe via the Black Sea. Tzar Nicholas II and his foreign minister, Sergei Sazanov, resisted the idea of negotiating a separate peace with the empire, which might have saved Russia.
The Battle of Sarikamish The Battle of Sarikamish between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, 1915.
Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
It picked the wrong side in World War I. Siding with Germany in World War I may have been the most significant reason for the Ottoman Empires demise. Before the war, the Ottoman Empire had signed a secret treaty with Germany, which turned out to be a very bad choice. In the conflict that followed, the empires army fought a brutal, bloody campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula to protect Constantinople from invading Allied forces in 1915 and 1916. Ultimately, the empire lost nearly a half a million soldiers, most of them to disease, plus about 3.8 million more who were injured or became ill. In October 1918, the empire signed an armistice with Great Britain, and quit the war.
If it werent for its fateful role in World War I, some even argue that the empire might have survived. Mostafa Minawi, a historian at Cornell University, believes the Ottoman Empire had the potential to evolve into a modern multi-ethnic, multi-lingual federal state. Instead, he argues, World War I triggered the empires disintegration. The Ottoman Empire joined the losing side, he says. As a result, when the war ended, The division of territories of the Ottoman Empire was decided by the victors."
Thanks nickcarraway. The Otttoman Empire was a mostly contiguous, land-based empire; the other two -- the Russian and Chinese -- fell apart as part of the worldwide turmoil that culminated in the 1st WW.
The far-flung empires of some of the European powers had been enabled by large fleets, and tottered on for another generation. Although obviously the Spanish empire had lost most of its holdings with the independence of its South- and Central American holdings in the early 19th century, its most important overseas territories were taken during the Spanish-American War, which was part of that late 19th-early 20th worldwide turmoil.
Otto von Bismarck, who put together the modern German state, was the great diplomatic and political genius of the 19th century. His treaty system diplomatically isolated France (which had been the dominant power in Europe for centuries) and set up cooperative efforts (Germany, Russia, other European powers) to dismantle the Ottoman Empire. He also managed to lay the groundwork for the Berlin-to-Baghdad railroad, which required Ottoman participation, and if memory serves, Germany even got the British to build part of it.
Lot in what you said.
Still, the Ottoman Empire was based upon the buying and selling of slaves, and couldn’t survive without that economic foundation.
I would add corruption of the sultans to the above list. Up until 1600, the Ottoman Empire was the most efficient state Islam had ever produced. Part of the reason for this was a law that required every sultan coming to the throne to murder his brothers, so there wouldn’t be any dispute over who was the rightful ruler. That worked until Mohammed III became sultan in 1595, and all nineteen of his brothers were strangled. After that, the authorities figured there must be a way to ensure a smooth succession without a bloodbath. From then on, all princes were kept isolated in different parts of the imperial palace, the Topkapi Saray, so they wouldn’t plot against each other, while the crown prince was locked up in a two-story tower called the Cage. Here the crown prince stayed until he were either called to the throne, or until somebody ended his miserable life. If a sultan was deposed, he would usually be returned to the Cage, too. Some heirs died of old age here, and at least one ex-sultan and one heir committed suicide in the Cage.
The last sultan, Mohammed VI, endured the longest prison sentence of all; he was fifty-six years old when he became sultan, and up to that point he had spent his whole life in the harem and the Cage. In the Cage, the prince’s only companions were deaf-mute servants—mutilated so that they could neither hear nor tell secrets—and just enough concubines to keep him busy. Consequently when the sultan came out and was crowned, he had no experience running the nation. In addition, their bodies and minds had stagnated for up to half a lifetime, so it’s no surprise that most of the latter sultans were incompetent.
One has to beware of the difference between a nation and an Empire. The Ottoman Empire was always an Empire comprised of a patchwork of regions, it never coalesced into a nation.
I’m pretty sure it was Trump’s fault=-
full of Muslims
Had a good visit to Istanbul, a serious Turkish bath is a very nice experience. The country was even better in the rear view mirror though, not a nice group of folks unless you are handing over money to their business.
The Portuguese found another route to India and China. That cut off the Ottoman profit from pepper, silk, and spice.
Sounds like a very muzzie approach to governance and succession.
One and only reason the Ottoman empire fell, MOSLEM.
It was a whole culture of cruelty.
Yes
The carve out of lands to foreign interests as capitulations in payment of debts. Essentially now known as Balkanization.
2. Islam
3. Islam
4. Islam
5. Islam
6. Islam
I just finished memorizing the 7 causes of the War of 1812, and now I have to learn this? ;-)
Diversity! Also the reason Rome collapsed, according to Gibbons and Montesquieu. As I keep pointing out to my liberal acquaintances, diversity is destructive. Instead of celebrating diversity, or things which make us different, we should celebrate uni-versity, the things that make us alike.
And we better be thankful for Trump as corruption under the DemocRATS was metastasizing.
Reason #1: Islamists apply 6th century reasoning to 20th century problems.
Reason #2-6: See reason #1.
Having to pay European creditors was a symptom of their bad economy, not the cause.
The Islamic taxation system was based on a tax on wealth, a 2.5% tax on assets (inventory, cash, raw materials) which excluded the value of land (and thus benefitted the land owning aristocracy at the expense of the middle class).
No entrepreneurial middle class = no industrialization.
But we won't mention that, eh? 😄
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